I've been backpacking Mexico and Central America for the last 8 months after working 8 years in IT. Everything is so cheap down here that my net worth is still going up thank so to real estate and stock investments. Just take the leap of faith. It's not as scary as it seems.

Ive been hitchhiking for the past three months through Central America. It's been a breeze and a pleasure here, and people say it's 10x easier in Europe. Look friendly and clean, stick that thumb up, and stand in a good location on the correct side of town. Give it a go and you'll meet some good people while saving some big bucks.

Be sure to see Parque Tayrona and Salento. You can probably skip Barranquilla and Cali. The budget looks good if USD. There's a cheap airline inside the country callled viva Colombia for really cheap travel between cities.

Check por Utila in Honduras for scuba diving. Guatemala for mayan ruins and volcano climbing. Surfing and more volcanoes in Nicaragua. Costa Rica is everyone's favorite to talk about but it's so expensive comparatively and so many tourists.

Meh. Antigua is probably the most boring in Guatemala. It's engineered for Gringos. Why not Lake Atitlan with the volcanoes that surround it or Semuc Champey with the candle light tours or Flores with its cobblestone streets?

Duolingo is great for learning vocabulary but won't help out at all with grammar or conversing. The Michel Thomas audio CDs are More what you're looking for. You just follow along and say bits outloud as if you're in his classroom. I've found that 8 hours of his lessons are about the same as 4 weeks of private Spanish lessons.

Great choice on countries to visit solo. I did the same 2 years ago and loved Bolivia. Be sure to do a free walking tour in La Paz and the salt flats tour. Private Spanish lessons are dirt cheap in Bolivia. You could do 25 hours and tell your teacher you want to cocentrate on travel Spanish.

A week is too long for Oaxaca. Head to Puerto Escondido for surf. San Christobal for mayan culture. Palenque for jungle ruins or a mushroom hike in the woods. Tulum for chique beaches and swimming with turtles. Valladolid for swimming in cenotes. Isla Holbox if you want chill island life.

Find a social group on meetup.com or go to the local reddit page to see what events are going on. I joined a rock climbing weekly club on my last gig, and would go to live improv theater shows around town.

You'll really stand out depending on where you go and your appearance. In Central America, it's hard to go a day without people asking you for money or staring at you in the street. You're constantly being watched which is a weird feeling. You don't blend in and you have to take this with a light heart. You'll be overcharged often too with a gringo tax. Sometimes I pay twice as much as the locals do for things such as food and transportation. It's not a big amount of money, but the idea that you're being double charged based on your race is a little unsettling.

Also, in Central America you'll probably get dengue at least once depending on where you live and how long you live there for. Ive heard about some people having it twice and it sounds like absolute death.

Also, you're expat neighbors may be crazy. Theres a lot of expats here that couldn't adjust to life back home in the western world. They came here for freedom and with that comes some interesting views on life. One guy I met on this trip had his dogs killed by poison over a verbal dispute with one of his neighbors. Another guy had to beat a local with a bat for refusing to leave his land. It can get pretty weird down here.